Chapter 11
An Overview on Heavy Metal
Contamination of Water System
and Sustainable Approach for Remediation
Indrani Mukherjee, Umesh Kumar Singh, and Rajeev Pratap Singh
11.1 Introduction
Contamination of freshwater systems with toxic heavy metal(loid)s (HMs) is a major
global issue owing to its adverse impact on human health, dependent ecology/
aquatic habitats, and agriculture. Certain HMs such as zinc (Zn), boron (B), molybdenum (Mo), copper (Cu), iron (Fe), and cobalt (Co) at their lower concentrations act
as cofactors in various metabolic and other biological processes, whereas several
HMs such as arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), chromium (Cr), lead (Pb), mercury (Hg),
and selenium (Se) are found to be nonessential and deleterious for humans, animals,
and plants, even at their trace levels (Edelstein and Ben-Hur 2018; Kim et al. 2019).
Freshwater systems can be perturbed by the HMs at varying degree from both natural
and human-induced activities. Industrial activities such as thermal power plants,
coal/mineral mines, electroplating, metal smelting, textiles, leather, e-waste
processing, and chemical industries discharge several HMs into the environment
such as soil, atmosphere, surface water courses, and eventually groundwater systems
through atmospheric deposition and leaching during subsequent groundwater
I. Mukherjee
Integrated Science Education and Research Centre (ISERC), Institute of Science, Visva-Bharati,
Santiniketan, Birbhum, West Bengal, India
U. K. Singh (*)
Integrated Science Education and Research Centre (ISERC), Institute of Science, Visva-Bharati,
Santiniketan, Birbhum, West Bengal, India
Department of Environmental Science, School of Earth, Biological and Environmental
Sciences, Central University of South Bihar, Gaya, Bihar, India
e-mail: umeshsingh@cusb.ac.in
R. P. Singh
Department of Environment and Sustainable Development, Institute of Environment and
Sustainable Development, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021
A. Singh et al. (eds.), Water Pollution and Management Practices,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-8358-2_11
255
An Overview on Heavy Metal
Contamination of Water System
and Sustainable Approach for Remediation
Indrani Mukherjee, Umesh Kumar Singh, and Rajeev Pratap Singh
11.1 Introduction
Contamination of freshwater systems with toxic heavy metal(loid)s (HMs) is a major
global issue owing to its adverse impact on human health, dependent ecology/
aquatic habitats, and agriculture. Certain HMs such as zinc (Zn), boron (B), molybdenum (Mo), copper (Cu), iron (Fe), and cobalt (Co) at their lower concentrations act
as cofactors in various metabolic and other biological processes, whereas several
HMs such as arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), chromium (Cr), lead (Pb), mercury (Hg),
and selenium (Se) are found to be nonessential and deleterious for humans, animals,
and plants, even at their trace levels (Edelstein and Ben-Hur 2018; Kim et al. 2019).
Freshwater systems can be perturbed by the HMs at varying degree from both natural
and human-induced activities. Industrial activities such as thermal power plants,
coal/mineral mines, electroplating, metal smelting, textiles, leather, e-waste
processing, and chemical industries discharge several HMs into the environment
such as soil, atmosphere, surface water courses, and eventually groundwater systems
through atmospheric deposition and leaching during subsequent groundwater
I. Mukherjee
Integrated Science Education and Research Centre (ISERC), Institute of Science, Visva-Bharati,
Santiniketan, Birbhum, West Bengal, India
U. K. Singh (*)
Integrated Science Education and Research Centre (ISERC), Institute of Science, Visva-Bharati,
Santiniketan, Birbhum, West Bengal, India
Department of Environmental Science, School of Earth, Biological and Environmental
Sciences, Central University of South Bihar, Gaya, Bihar, India
e-mail: umeshsingh@cusb.ac.in
R. P. Singh
Department of Environment and Sustainable Development, Institute of Environment and
Sustainable Development, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021
A. Singh et al. (eds.), Water Pollution and Management Practices,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-8358-2_11
255